Spaghetti Carbonara Frittata Recipe

A frittata is an endlessly versatile Italian omelet. Just about anything can go into a frittata, including stale bagels, leftover Chinese food, and last night's pasta. For this reason, a frittata is the perfect candidate for this spaghetti carbonara frittata mashup. "I think this recipe is really cool because, for the most part, the ingredients are the same as you would use in traditional spaghetti carbonara, but used in a different way," says recipe developer Jessica Morone. "Instead of primarily being a pasta dish with some eggs, it is more of an egg dish with some pasta in it." Unlike a traditional carbonara, though, it contains both cream and milk to give the eggs some extra fluffiness.

This spaghetti carbonara frittata is almost a one-pan meal since it provides starch, eggs, meat, and cheese in each bite. It can be eaten either hot or cold and would work equally well as a brunch or dinner dish. If you plan to serve it as a morning meal, it needs nothing more than coffee or tea and fresh fruit. If it's intended as a dinner entree, a green salad would be the perfect accompaniment, as would a simple side, such as roasted asparagus. Toasted garlic bread, too, would complement both the egg and spaghetti components.

The spaghetti carbonara part of this dish is made from pancetta, pecorino, and cooked spaghetti, while the frittata is made from eggs, cream, and milk. You'll also need olive oil, for cooking, and black pepper, for seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Cook the pancetta with a drizzle of olive oil in an 8-inch oven-safe skillet over medium heat until the pancetta is brown and crispy, 8–10 minutes.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the pancetta from the pan and place it on a paper towel–lined plate. Wipe the pan out.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, milk, cheese, and pepper.

Add the pancetta and stir to combine.

Lay the cooked spaghetti on the bottom of the skillet.

Pour the egg mixture in and cover the spaghetti.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25–30 minutes, or until the frittata is puffed and the center is set.

Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting into slices. Serve hot or at room temperature, garnished with fresh parsley, if desired.

While spaghetti gets a shout-out in the recipe name, you could certainly use another long, thin kind of pasta, such as fettuccine or fusilli. You could even try a short, chunky one like penne or shells, although this will give the dish a slightly different texture. Feel free to use leftover pasta, too, as long as it hasn't already been mixed with sauce. Parmesan can replace pecorino, while the pancetta can be swapped out for bacon or diced prosciutto. Guanciale will also work if you happen to have any on hand.

If you want to add some vegetables to the dish, cooked peas, asparagus, mushrooms, or onions would all make for tasty, nutritious additions, or you could dice up a jalapeño and fry it along with the meat to add a little heat. Another way to spice up the dish would be by sprinkling some cayenne into the beaten egg mixture or splashing hot sauce on top. If you choose a Louisiana-style sauce, the vinegar can help to offset the richness of the thick, creamy sauce.

You can refrigerate any leftover frittata for up to three days or freeze it for a longer period of time. It's perfectly okay to freeze this dish even though it contains eggs. While boiled eggs can turn rubbery when frozen, scrambled eggs aren't damaged by their sojourn at subzero temperatures — just think of frozen breakfast burritos. If you're meal prepping and intend to freeze the whole thing, though, it's best to undercook the eggs just a bit since reheating the dish will cook them even further.

The microwave will be the quickest way to reheat the leftovers, especially if you only need a single serving. You won't even need to thaw a frozen frittata — the microwave will take care of this step. If you're heating the entire dish, though, you might prefer to bake it in a 350 F oven for five to 10 minutes.

If you want to save some time prepping this dish, you can cook several components ahead of time. If you don't have leftover pasta, you can boil the amount needed for the frittata, then refrigerate it for a day or so. You can also fry the pancetta and grate the cheese in advance. When you're ready to cook the frittata, all you'll need to do is stir things together, pour them into a pan, and bake.